Water, biochar, soil health and more will be discussed during the first field day of the year, hosted by New Mexico State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station.
The Leyendecker Science Center will host its field day from 7:30 a.m. to noon June 3 at the center, located at 7200 Plant Science Circle in Las Cruces. Lunch will be provided to attendees.
Presentations include arid smart irrigation, conserving natural enemies for alfalfa pest suppression, understanding sorghum-barely crop rotation for managing weeds in chile peppers, soil health assessment in cover cropping systems under restricted irrigation, the promising jujube fruit crop in New Mexico, biochar amendments and soil health in cotton systems, biorational management of soilborne pathogens, growing prickly pear cactus as an alternative crop, and pecan irrigation and water use efficiency research.
Attendees can also learn more about the Resilient Agricultural Water Community Systems grant work taking place at Leyendecker. Last year, the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute at NMSU received a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Agricultural Food Research Initiative Strengthening Agricultural Systems program. The grant will help the institute collaborate with researchers and experts across four states to find solutions to water problems driven by increased demand and a changing climate as part of the RAWCS project.
In New Mexico, the project has two focus areas: one in the Lower Rio Grande area that includes Las Cruces, and in the Upper Rio Grande area of northern New Mexico.
“These projects are looking at making agriculture more resilient and continue to thrive in a situation where we not only have less water for crops, but as our climate gets hotter and drier, the evaporative demand also increases,” said Angus Aney, the Resilient Agricultural Water Community Systems project manager.
If you are an individual with a disability who is in need of an auxiliary aid or service to participate, contact Autumn Martinez at 575-636-3132 or purple@nmsu.edu. To register, visit https://rsvp.nmsu.edu/rsvp/leyendecker.
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PHOTO CAPTION: John Idowu, Extension Plant Sciences specialist and agronomist at New Mexico State University, speaks during a field presentation at NMSU’s Leyendecker Science Center. The center will host the first field day of the 2026 season on June 3. (NMSU photo by Josh Bachman)
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A man standing in a field holding a microphone.